de Guzman Sean Patrick Catalon, Chavez Lorelei Legaspi, Abrilla Aedrian Arcangel
Department of Radiation Oncology, Mariano Marcos Memorial Hospital and Medical Center.
Division of Radiation Oncology, Department of Radiology, Philippine General Hospital, University of the Philippines Manila.
Acta Med Philipp. 2024 Oct 31;58(19):50-55. doi: 10.47895/amp.vi0.7867. eCollection 2024.
This study aimed to identify the effects of COVID-19 pandemic on radiation treatment delays, interruptions, and cancer outcomes if any, in a Philippine tertiary hospital.
A retrospective observational cohort study was conducted among patients living with cancer who were referred for radiation therapy from March to July 2020. Data on treatment delays, treatment interruptions, and average treatment times were collected and analyzed. An association between radiation treatment interruption and disease failure rate was also evaluated.
The study found the mean radiation treatment time ranged from 50.3 days to 140.6 days from the start of radiation treatment to the end of radiation treatment, and 181.7 days to 217.3 days from the date of CT simulation to the end of radiation treatment. These radiation treatment times and treatment interruptions are beyond any published recommendations for external beam radiation therapy, thus potentially leading to worse oncologic outcomes. However, no association between treatment interruption and disease failure rate was noted. This may be due to limitations of the study such as small sample size and heterogeneous patient characteristics such as different cancer pathologies and different disease stages.
This study showed that the COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on radiation treatment interruptions and delays, potentially leading to worse oncologic outcomes. The lack of association between treatment interruption and disease failure rate needs further investigation with a larger sample size, more homogeneous patient characteristics, and longer follow-up. The findings highlight the importance of maintaining cancer care services during pandemics and implementing measures to minimize treatment interruptions and delays to improve cancer outcomes.
本研究旨在确定2019冠状病毒病疫情对菲律宾一家三级医院放射治疗延迟、中断以及癌症治疗结果（如有）的影响。
对2020年3月至7月转诊接受放射治疗的癌症患者进行了一项回顾性观察队列研究。收集并分析了有关治疗延迟、治疗中断和平均治疗时间的数据。还评估了放射治疗中断与疾病失败率之间的关联。
研究发现，从放射治疗开始到结束，平均放射治疗时间为50.3天至140.6天，从CT模拟日期到放射治疗结束为181.7天至217.3天。这些放射治疗时间和治疗中断超出了任何已发表的外照射放射治疗建议，因此可能导致更差的肿瘤治疗结果。然而，未发现治疗中断与疾病失败率之间存在关联。这可能是由于研究存在局限性，如样本量小以及患者特征异质性，如不同的癌症病理和不同的疾病阶段。
本研究表明，2019冠状病毒病疫情对放射治疗中断和延迟有重大影响，可能导致更差的肿瘤治疗结果。治疗中断与疾病失败率之间缺乏关联需要通过更大的样本量、更均匀的患者特征和更长的随访时间进行进一步调查。研究结果凸显了在疫情期间维持癌症护理服务以及采取措施尽量减少治疗中断和延迟以改善癌症治疗结果的重要性。
